However, the range is still available online from retailers including Amazon and John Lewis and the Leader range remains on sale.

Image copyrightClarks

Image caption
Clarks calls its boys’ shoe range Leader

Miranda Williams, a councillor and cabinet member for children and young people in Greenwich, southeast London, took Clarks to task on Twitter this week.

Carolyn Harris, shadow minister for women and equalities, described the situation as “blatant discrimination”, while Sarah Ludford, a Liberal Democrat peer and shadow Brexit minister, called the name choices “depressing”.

Lesley Williams, a Gloucestershire councillor, tweeted that it was “offensive”:

Clarks said it was removing the Dolly Babe name from stocks in stores, but warned the process would take “time to complete”.

The row follows another claim of sexism levelled against Clarks earlier this month by Jemma Moonie-Dalton, who wrote a Facebook post about trying to buy school shoes for her seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son at a Clarks store in east London.

“In the boys’ section the shoes are sturdy, comfortable and weatherproof with soles clearly designed with running and climbing in mind,” she wrote. “In contrast, the girls’ shoes have inferior soles, are not fully covered and are not well padded at the ankle. They are not comfortable and are not suited to outdoor activities in British weather.”

Clarks said it was creating more unisex shoes in response to customer feedback and promoting its gender-neutral stance both online and in store.

But Williams said Clarks had failed to learn lessons from a similar controversy last summer. In a Facebook post that went viral, Welsh mother Laura Greenwood accused Clarks of making girls’ shoes that are “fussy, impractical and prone to scuffing – quite unlike your sensible, practical, durable ranges designed for boys”.